PHILADELPHIA, PA — A 55-year-old Philadelphia man was sentenced this week to 70 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to nine counts involving the production and attempted production of child sexual abuse material depicting several young children, federal prosecutors reported.
U.S. District Judge Gerald J. McHugh sentenced Jerome Edwards to 840 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Edwards also must register as a sex offender under the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act and Megan’s Law.
Edwards pleaded guilty in December to all nine counts against him after being indicted in September 2022.
According to federal court filings, Edwards produced at least 77 images and 54 videos of child sexual abuse material between June 5 and June 27, 2022. The material depicted victims between 3 and 9 years old and was recovered from Edwards’ cellphone by the FBI.
Prosecutors stated that Edwards recorded his sexual abuse of several children and took sexually explicit photographs of another child.
The case came to authorities’ attention June 27, 2022, after one of the victims disclosed the abuse to a sibling and police were contacted, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
At the time, Edwards was wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service after absconding from a residential reentry center in February 2022. He had previously served a 12-year federal prison sentence for two gunpoint robberies.
The FBI and Philadelphia Police Department Special Victims Unit investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Harrell prosecuted it.
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